Personally, I'd like maybe for some of them to be tied to a pole while 30 or 50 soldiers filed by first and ***** slapped them hard for insulting the flag, the nation and the service. The worst ones shot dead before a firing squad if need be.
You think a bunch of elderly protesters should be assaulted by dozens of soldiers, or shot dead?
What if the person flying the flag upside-down is a vet, what do you do then?
Hey look, I'm not writing a book on the subject, but the issue isn't age nor is it position, it is a matter of disrespect, however it is done. Disrespect of the flag is at the very least, highly offensive and insensitive to those that cherish it. People DIE, give their life willingly, defending that flag. People's parents, spouses and children die defending that flag's honor. Disrespecting the flag disrespects all of them. Contempt for your country is bad enough but using the flag as your means of contemptfull demonstration is contempt and disrespect for the nation that gives you liberty, and disrespect to all that have served it.
It is one thing to disrespect PEOPLE whom you disagree with, from the President on down to your township Mayor, but your nation is not of any one person but of us all, past, present and future. There may be things in the past or present you strongly disagree with, but it was PEOPLE who did those things, not the flag, not your Nation. Too often, folks confuse and blur the two.
Germany did terrible things during WWII, but it wasn't the NATION that did those things, not their flag--- it was Hitler and other PEOPLE.
I can only offer suggestions based on hypothetical situations, partly for emotional effect for how some would feel, but ultimately it is up to the law to decide, but I feel that at some level, you just cannot let this stuff go eternally unchecked. Me, I can't say how I'd feel or what I'd do or how I'd react to overt, flagrant disrespect to one's country or flag, specifically to insult, offend and provoke others, usually others that the offender does not even know! But I suggest a person would be wise not to do it in front of me, especially alone in a dark alley, unless they just like to live dangerously.